2014-11-12

Warwickshire’s third premier division fixture in the BDO Inter County Championships was an away game against Cheshire, but the journey back appeared much longer than going as they suffered their second defeat in three games.
The ladies ‘B’ got off to a cracking start Wendy Adams opening up with a 3-1 success against Lyn Marsden and with a similar scoreline Edwina Holdsworth defeated Dawn Corbett to make it 2-0. Marion Conway was in superb form to take the score along to 3-0, she took just three legs to beat Gill O’Shea and record a 21.17 match award winning average.
The home team got their first winner in game four, Jan Woodworth having a 3-0 win over Lisa Whitmore. Nina Bolt looked all set to chalk up the match winning game against Andrea Hunt when she won the first two legs, but Hunt stepped up a gear to take the last three legs and win 3-2 putting Cheshire within one win of their visitors with one to play.
On at number six for Warwickshire was Caroline Pike, Caroline made short work of the challenge from Heidi Williams beating her 3-0 to give her team a 4-2 victory.
The win by Wendy Adams put her top of the premier division ladies ‘B’ averages with an average of 21.38 closely followed in second place by team mate Marion Conway on 21.21.
The first of the men’s ‘B’ games saw Cheshire’s Robbie Arrowsmith win 4-2 against Dane Vickers, Matthew Edgar cancelled out the home team’s advantage with a similar 4-2 victory over Tony Clark. The rest of the first half was Cheshire’s as Mark Jodrill, Carl Dennel, Stuart Kellett and Jeff Fisher all won to give them a 5-1 lead. The second half began in a similar fashion as Nathan Aspinall beat Prakash Jiwa to extend the hosts lead to 6-1.
William Naylor (Warwickshire) stopped the rot with a man of the match display against Chris Townsend, beating him 4-3 with a 26.43 average. But it was only a brief respite as Cheshire chalked up another three consecutive wins from Paul Taylor, John Warburton and Paul Phillips to put them in an unassailable 9-2 lead.
The final game went to Warwickshire when Ashley Hykin won 4-2 against Paul McCrevey to give a result of 9-3.
With Jane Stubbs and Anastasia Dobromyslova giving Cheshire ladies ‘A’ a 2-0 lead Warwickshire really had their backs to the wall, but they fought back magnificently. Sue Gulliver began the comeback with a 3-1 win over Rosalyne Davies, after Davies had won the first leg. Melanie Hill squared the game with a straight 3-0 success against Dawn Williams and the ever reliable Trina Gulliver, with another 3-0 scoreline defeated Jill Jodrill and for the third time this season she took the match award with a 20.88 average.
So from 2-0 down to 3-2 up and just one game to play and playing for Cheshire was Bev Martin, who twice took the lead against Donna Pinch only to be pegged back on each occasion to take the game to a deciding leg. Martin had first throw advantage in the last leg and although first to a double she struggled to finish and it was only after she had allowed the Warwickshire player to have throws to win the leg that she finally found the all important double to give her team a share of the points with a final 3-3 draw.
From the completed three games the score stood at 14-10 to the home team leaving the men requiring an 8-4 win to earn a draw.
The advantage in the men’s ‘A’ game swung one way then the other as Noel Grant gave Warwickshire the early lead with a 4-3 win over Charlie Burns, then Tony O’Shea and Andy Cope put Cheshire 2-1 before man of the match Rob Hawker (27.69) beat Patrick Lynskey 4-2 after trailing 2-0 and Kevin Dowling beat Malcolm Barrow 4-2 again after losing the first two legs, putting Warwickshire back in command at 3-2. However, the game was squared by the halfway stage as Bryn Suckley beat Richard Foster 4-1.
Warwickshire went ahead for the third time in the seventh game when Dave Harris won 4-2 against Dave Bird, who had won the first two legs. Mark Westgarth added his 4-0 defeat of John Speed to the tally and with a 4-3 win by Dean Stewart against Peter Boughey Warwickshire were 6-3 up.
Jamie Atkins (Warwickshire) won the opener against Shaun Walshe only to see Walshe win the next two. Two in a row for Atkins levelled the game at 3-3 and he could easily have won 4-3 if he could have found the elusive doubles to wrap the game up, but unfortunately it was not to be and Walshe sealed his 4-3 win with a 60 outshot.
Mark Carter was also taken the full seven legs distance by Simon Preston, but it was the Warwickshire man who held his nerve to win the final leg and also the game 4-3 to put the away team 7-4 up.
Warwickshire’s anchor man was Jamie Hughes who took on Michael Haynes. Hughes won the first, Haynes the second with a 124 finish. Hughes then went 2-1 up, Haynes replied taking the next two. Hughes drew level in the sixth leg only to see Haynes clinch a 4-3 win with a 101 checkout to put the final score at 7-5 to Warwickshire. Alas the overall score was 19-17 to Cheshire which meant that Warwick dropped a place in the table to fifth, with their host’s just three points behind them in sixth place.
Full Results:(Cheshire names first):Men’s ‘A’:- Charlie Burns 3 Noel Grant 4, Tony O’Shea 4 Tom Aldridge 0, Andy Cope 4 Mark Strong 0, Patrick Lynskey 2 Rob Hawker 4, Malcolm Barrow 2 Kevin Dowling 4, Bryn Suckley 4 Richard Foster 1, Dave Bird 2 Dave Harris 4, John Speed 0 Mark Westgarth 4, Peter Boughey 3 Dean Stewart 4, Shaun Walshe 4 Jamie Atkins 3, Simon Preston 3 Mark Carter 4, Michael Haynes 4 Jamie Hughes 3, Men’s ‘B’:- Robbie Arrowsmith 4 Dane Vickers 2, Tony Clark 2 Matthew Edgar 4, Mark Jodrill 4 Simon Power 0, Carl Dennel 4 Mark Archer 1, Stuart Kellett 4 Tom McGlone 2, Jeff Fisher 4 Carl Green 2, Nathan Aspinall 4 Prakash Jiwa 2, Chris Townsend 3 William Naylor 4, Paul Taylor 4 Luke Kennedy 2, John Warburton 4 Michael Spencer 3, Paul Phillips 4 Antony Allen 1, Paul McCrevey 2 Ashley Hykin 4, Women’s ‘A’:- Jane Stubbs 3 Angela Jones 2, Anastasia Dobromyslova 3 Denise Keyte 0, Rosalyne Davies 1 Sue Gulliver 3, Dawn Williams 0 Melanie Hill 3, Jill Jodrill 0 Trina Gulliver 3, Bev Martin 3 Donna Pinch 2, Women’s ‘B’:- Lyn Marsden 1 Wendy Adams 3, Dawn Corbett 1 Edwina Holdsworth 3, Gill O’Shea 0 Marian Conway 3, Jan Woodworth 3 Lisa Whitmore 0, Andrea Hunt 3 Nina Bolt 2, Heidi Williams 0 Caroline Pike 3.